Axes & Hand Tools

Garden Tools

Making tools from materials available was one of the giant leaps for humanity on our way to civilization. The moment humans figured out that it’s easier to dig the soil with a stick rather than their own hands is as important as the invention of the wheel and paper. Millenia later, we still can’t get by without tools. Their forms and materials have evolved, of course, as have our ideas of construction and design. We no longer need to sharpen a stone to make a hatchet.

Tools come in many shapes and sizes, depending on their intended purpose. Having a garden implies a lot of manual work with all kinds of things: plants, soil, wood, stone, and anything else you can find on your land. It is a good idea to have an extensive collection of hand tools just in case.

Axes

A good ax can help you chop wood and rescue grandmas from big bad wolves. If the latter is an exceptional case (not impossible, though), the first one is much more common. Whether you need logs to get cozy in front of the fireplace or have a central heating system to run, the ax is your loyal servant in the arduous art of woodcutting.

There are several types of axes according to their blade and handle designs, sizes, and purposes. We won’t elaborate on battle axes, we are not a Viking-dedicated store after all. The axes we are selling are intended for more peaceful purposes.

Felling axes are used for, unexpectedly, felling trees. They come in all shapes and weights and need to be kept sharp to cut through fibers effectively.

Splitting axes have a different blade design, as they are intended for rending the fibers of the wood apart instead of cutting through them and thus are great for wood splitting. 

Hatchets are simply a smaller and lighter variant of their bigger relatives, specifically designed for use in one hand. They make for great camp axes as they are portable and versatile. 

According to the number of blades, axes are divided into single and double bit axes. As evident as it may seem, they respectively have one and two blades. Two blades are positioned on the same head, looking in the opposite directions. 

Hand Tools For Garden

Axes are not the only soldiers in your garden wardens’ army, other tools that will help you with other sorts of tasks.

Hookaroons are great for dragging and lifting big logs. They will make the work easier while saving your back from the consequences of carrying heavy objects.

Wood splitting mauls have a somewhat similar design to regular axes, with one side of the head being a blade. This is where their similarities end, as the other side of splitting maul’s head is adorned with a sledgehammer. Splitting mauls are also heavier and have a long, straight, and round-shaped handle. These instruments use leverage to cut the wood. 

McLeod Tool is a combination tool with a two-sided blade, one being a rake with coarse tines, the other one - a flat sharpened hoe. These tools are great for trail restoration and wildfire suppression, but you can make use of them in any other way.

A ditch bank blade is a tool for cutting brush, briar, and undergrowth. Other common names for it are sling blade and kaiser blade. The main element of this tool is a hooked double-edged blade at the end of the long handle.

Gritr Outdoors has a variety of axes and other garden tools to assist you in your backyard quest.